Blaak, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2026
A row of pigeons waits in stillness. One breaks away beneath the arch. Rotterdam, between staying and leaving.
On the edge of a roof at Blaak, Rotterdam, a row of pigeons sits still together. Beneath the great arch, one breaks away and takes flight, while another waits alone. Three states in one frame: staying, leaving, and somewhere in between.
The heavy, rigid architecture of the city stands against a single movement that cannot be held in place. For me, this image is about the choice between belonging and finding your own way, a question of identity that moves through all of my work. Working in black and white, I reduce the scene to its rhythm of light, form and motion, letting one small moment speak for the quiet decisions we all make in the city.
In Her Own Stride began with a single moment on a crossing in Rotterdam: hard sunlight, hair in the wind, a shadow walking beside her like a second self. I didn’t see a passer-by, but a woman choosing her own pace, against the current, without looking back.
Since then, I have followed women through the city. Not as posed figures, but in motion: on their way to work, to home, to something new. Rotterdam is their stage: raw, modern, full of sharp lines and hard shadows. A city rebuilt, always reinventing itself, just like the women who move through it.
Each image feels like a scene from a film still being written. We rarely see their faces, so they can be any woman. What matters is the step: confident, unhurried, on her own terms.
This series is an ode to the woman who moves forward. For anyone who knows you may choose your own rhythm, even when the city around you moves faster.
“A woman doesn’t wait for the light to turn green. She simply steps forward."
